About six months ago I switched from iPhoto to Aperture and the switch has not been painless. I originally switched to Aperture when I purchased a new Canon Rebel XT DSLR camera because I wanted to use some of Aperture’s advanced features. Once I got used to the Aperture interface (not a trivial task) I found it to be an excellent piece of software. The problem is that it’s not very forgiving for amateur users and many of the niceties I was used to in iPhoto were missing.
Read the rest of the story on my ZDNet Blog: The Apple Core.

Apple used a media event on the eve of Photokina in Cologne, Germany to announce Aperture 1.5, an update to the company’s US$299 all-in-one post production tool for photographers. New features include:
– a new open library
– iLife and iWork integration
– XMP metadata support
– new adjustment tools
– an export API
Aperture 1.5 is available this week in English, French, German and Japanese as a free Software Update to current Aperture 1.0 customers.
The Aperture Web site has been updated and more specifics can be found on the new features page.
Additional information from Apple’s press release after the jump…

Just a quick reminder that Apple is planning a press event today in advance of tomorrow’s opening of Photokina in Cologne, Germany. The smart money is on an update to Aperture but there’s an outisde chance that we could see Core 2 Duo upgrades for the MacBook Pro and possibly MacBook. Stay tuned.

Apple will host a special event this month in Cologne, Germany, one day before the start of the Photokina tradeshow. Apple’s invitation to the September 25 event is typically nondescript, but it does give a hint as to what the company will talk about.

“Start photokina a little early this year” is the message on the invitation. Below that text is the front of a camera lens — and what appears to be a closeup of the same image used on the front of the box for Aperture…

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VersionTracker Pro costs US$49.95 for up to three Macs and a 14-day free trial is available. More information is available at VersionTracker.

Now that Apple’s lawyers have scared the pants off of small entrepreneurs selling products like the Profit Pod and TightPod — items that have nothing to with portable audio in any way, mind you — it seems that the next targets are companies that have the audacity to use the word “podcast” in their names.

The iTunes Monoploy/Failure Myth debunked the idea that Apple has a stranglehold on the digital media market by demonstrating how Apple contends in a competitive market for both music players and digital downloads. The other half of the myth–that the iTunes Store is being “shunned” by users–is taken apart by showing that not only is Apple’s online strategy a success, but that there are clear reasons why Apple has maintained its lead while rivals have failed miserably: Why iTunes WorksRead More…
Contributed by: Daniel Eran, RDM

Apple released updates to their wireless networking drivers last week and they appear to have created more questions than they answered with it.
AirPort Update 2006-001 (version 1.0) was released to “improves AirPort reliability on Macintosh computers” and is only for Apple’s AirPort Extreme cards. An AirPort security update was also included in Security Update 2006-005.
Some have questioned whether Apple’s wireless update was released specifically as a result of the MacBook WiFi hack that was shown by David Maynor and Jon “Johnny Cache” Ellch at the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas last month.
Read the rest of the story on my ZDNet Blog: The Apple Core.

This iPod wannabe looks like a fan-inspired mock-up – but it’s real, and on sale in China this month!

Looks like all those mock-ups of a ‘true’ video iPod hadthe boffins at Chinese firm Meizu so worked up they just couldn’twait – they created their own!

The Meizu miniPlayer looks like something straight fromApple’s labs, but is, in fact, on sale this month in the FarEast, packing all the features we’ve wanted, but Apple has yet todeliver.

Looks like all those mock-ups of a ‘true’ video iPod had the boffins at Chinese firm Meizu so worked up they just couldn’t wait – they created their own!The Meizu miniPlayer looks like something straight from Apple’s labs, but is, in fact, on sale this month in the Far East, packing all the features we’ve wanted, but Apple has yet to deliver.

Fresh from the ‘What-A-Good-Idea’ department comes the USBCELL. This 1300mAH rechargeable battery has a hinged cap that folds back to reveal a USB connector. This can then be plugged-in to any full-size, powered USB port, avoiding the need for separate recharging devices, cradles or cables.
At 1300mAH, the USBCELL is half the capacity of many conventional rechargeable batteries. However the conveniencce of being able to recharge or top-up by simply plugging into a USB port is a definite plus.
AAA and 9 volt batteries are being planned, along with power-supplies for a wide range of portable devices including mobile phones and game consoles.
Contributed by Brett Jordan.

According to proponents ofThe iTunes Monopoly/Failure Myth, Apple’s iTunes Store has a monopolistic lock on digital music, and at the same time is also a marginal failure that nobody is using. Judging from headlines that appear next to each other, it’s hard to keep the FUD straight. In both cases, they’re wrong, here’s why.Read more…
Contributed by: Daniel Eran, RDM